So the past few weeks have been super busy and the next few weeks look to be even busier! This past weekend was chock full of good times, but man, I am exhausted! Friday was an epoch day because I ran 4 miles!! The longest distance post-ankle surgery. Awesome! Saturday we were up early!! I got in a nice little bike down to the farmer’s market to pick up some local ground beef (the flavor is soooo much better). I had a great chat with the owner (the farm is called “The Lamb’s Quarter.” I was scoping out their website and they now have vegetable CSAs with an option to do a meat or egg share add on. Turns out that next year, he’ll be offering stand-alone meat and egg shares, which is fantastic news if we stay in the area! We’ll be able to run a debit-like system. Basically we put a chunk of money on our account and then each weekend we can go to the farmer’s market and pick up our choice of meats and/or eggs an the costs will just be debited from our account. We can pay as we go; pretty cool.

After stopping off at the farmer’s market, I biked to Whole Foods to pick up some local chicken breast (The Lamb’s Quarter will have chicken beginning June 1st). I got there about 2 minutes before the store opened and can you believe it.. there was a line! A line on a Saturday morning at 8:00AM (well, 7:58AM) to get into Whole Foods. Crazy! Needless to say, I got in and out with chicken and omelets in hand (they have a to die for omelet made to order bar— the employees are always super nice and the omelets are phenomenal). I got home and Andrew, being awesome as he is, had already chopped up the rest of the ingredients for the crockpot fiesta chicken. We threw them into the crock pot along with the chicken and set it on low. I left the ground beef in the sink to thaw, we packed up the pup, grabbed some reuseable totes, dawned our homemade “Walking for Mariah Because She’s Walking Down the Aisle” shirts and headed to PG County, MD. We also had previously loaded down the car with goodwill donations… the plus side to moving every year is that you are constantly getting rid of things!

First Stop: Arthritis Walk 5k: The walk took place at a HS track in PG County. There wasn’t a HUGE turn out but a decent number of folks. In my personal opinion, it wasn’t as well organized as the Jingle Bell 5K that we ran last December, but still not bad. The people were friendly and it was obvious everyone had come out to have a good time. Unfortunately, we were probably 2 in about a handful of people that actually completed the entire 5k. Most people walked two laps and quit (5K = 12 laps). What was even more of a bummer is that the people who were left walking the complete 5K were the people designated to have arthritis- I mean, if they can do it and push through the pain, so can everyone else, right? Regardless, we walked it in just under 45 minutes, which was our initial goal. It felt great and we were happy to support Mariah! I can’t wait for the Jingle Bell 5K again this year!! Here are pictures of our shirts!!!

Second Stop: Goodwill of Rockville: After the walk, we drove to Goodwill and dropped off about 5 garbage bags of clothing, a huge box of small kitchen appliances, a bag of mugs and glassware, some toys, some decorations, and a whole mess of odds and ends. We also requested a receipt— we’ll see how much money we donated and whether it’s worthwhile on the taxes, probably not, but it felt good to get rid of things that we don’t need and to put it in the hands of others!

Third Stop: Comet Ping Pong: Our next stop was Comet Ping Pong. This is pizza place on CT Avenue… it’s DELICIOUS. The pizza is phenomenal and they have fun toppings like broccolini and potatoes and smoky mushrooms and sorts of goodies. We had a living social coupon that was going to expire, so we stopped by for lunch and pick up pizza to go. We also had enough money left to get some “to go” root beer floats. Just picture- kid’s sippy cup of vanilla ice cream and an ice cold can of dr. brown’s root beer. Perfect!

Fourth Stop: Claggett Farm- Share Numero Uno: Our first farm share of the year! It seems like forever since we last were here! It was great to get out there and pick up some good fresh deliciousness. Our share included lettuce, spinach, strawberries or asparagus, garlic scallions, herbs, and popcorn. We also picked up quite a few herbs and 3 seedlings (two tomatoes and pepper). Hopefully this year we’ll have better luck growing things! We’re going to miss the next two weekends of pick ups so my friend, Aileen will be taking advantage of the bounty (she loves Kale anyway, so it works haha).

Fifth Stop: HOME- Cinco de Mayo Potluck: I know, I know. It’s past cinco de mayo, but still, we love Mexican food and this seemed like a fun theme. The crockpot fiesta chicken turned out really well and I’ll try to post a recipe soon- super tender! The ground beef was a hit! We fried up our own tortilla chips and taco shells and served them along with sauteed pepper and onions, guacamole, and homemade salsa. Finally, we had margaritas, smoothies, daquiris, beer, and spinach-cheese-black bean enchiladas (made with some farm fresh spinach). Friends that came over brought quinoa/shrimp mixes, margarita bars, potato salad, limes and tequila, and more. We had a great time and it was fantastic to see so many good friends!

Sunday was then spent cleaning and packing. We packed allllll day and we are now close to being finished. I can’t believe it- this is the most prepared for moving that I have ever felt and that’s saying a lot, considering I have now moved at least once a year for the past 10 years. Now it’s just coasting time— we’ll be at work until Thursday around noon or so then it’s off to pick up keys, load up moving trucks, move, and then fly to California! I can’t believe it’s time!!!! It seems like we’ve been waiting for this trip forever! I am really excited and can’t wait to see everyone!

For now, I’m off to find dinner and relax a little… 3 mile run in the morning will get here sooner than I think!! Have a great night everyone!